


your whisper (...brings me joy)

by WhatBecomesOfYou



Category: Gymnastics RPF
Genre: F/F, Olympics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 03:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatBecomesOfYou/pseuds/WhatBecomesOfYou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aly and Gabby share a quiet moment the night before the uneven bars finals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	your whisper (...brings me joy)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [summerstorm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerstorm/gifts).



Gabby held herself in her bed. There was giggling and laughter coming from all the rooms all around her, emanating from every crack in every wall. And yet, she was in here, all alone, waiting to fall asleep. Sometimes, she felt as though she was lucky; there was no one here to keep her awake, no one to distract her from what she was here for - gold medals by the bucket, for her nation and for God. But she was still somewhat lonely, of course, especially when dispossessed laughter filtered in and echoed inside her head like a repetitive rhythm.

( _Even if there's one person._ )

And then she heard two knocks - the first tentative, the second more assured. "Gabby?" Aly's voice called out. "You - are you still awake in there?"

Gabby looked up from where her face had been buried into her pillow. " Yeah -"

"- Can I -"

"- Sure." Aly opened the door at her reply; she clasped a blanket in her grasp and sat on the edge of Gabby's bed, not daring to move any closer without implicit permission. "It doesn't feel the same out there without you. Kyla wants to do karaoke, and -"

"I'm worried about tomorrow," Gabby admitted, her voice soft, "and so, you know - it's hard to think about karaoke and partying with all of you when I'm mentally reviewing every step of my beam routine - I don't want to fail. Not after all this attention that's on me." The traces of her famous grin filtered at the edges of her face, and she patted the place next to her in bed. "I feel like the whole world's eyes are on me now."

"I know how that feels," Aly said, her voice quiet and soft to match Gabby's tone, as she eased back into her bed and looked over at her. "When did it get like this? Seriously."

"Probably around the same time that we made the National Team and put our entire lives in the public eye for the rest of our lives." Gabby dropped her hand to cover the back of Aly's.

" _I know_. People from Alabama and Australia and everywhere in-between want to read my Tweets that I send to my friends. It's _surreal_ , is what it is."

They laid there in silence. "Nothing's going to be normal ever again, is it?" Gabby asked.

( _Yeah, there's one person._ )

"At least we have our medals to brighten our days."

"If my mother still wrote Christmas letters like she did when I was a child, I think my family would have the best one ever - Gabby won gold in London, and you -"

"Hey, what's Christmas like for you?"

"Well, when I'm in Iowa training, it doesn't snow much, but there's a sticky gray slush that sticks to every crevice of your shoes until March. And Coach Chow makes it as good as he can for me - when I can't get back to Virginia, that is. It's nice to have two places to call my home. What's your Hanukkah like?"

Aly nodded. "You have more places than that." Aly kissed the side of Gabby's head. "Besides in the hearts of your millions of Twitter followers - you have me. You'll never be alone when you're with me."

"I know." Gabby held Aly close and smiled. "And you have one in mine too." It was nice to hear the reassurances, especially after how she had been feeling before Aly came in.

"You want me to stay? It's nice and quiet in here. Better than out there, for sure."

Gabby's grin could have lit up the entire darkened room all on its own. "That would be - you _would?_ "

"Yeah. It wasn't the same without you, I said, and I meant it when I said it."

"I guess trying to psych myself up for tomorrow all in here by myself was a little nun-like of me. Said my prayers and everything."

"You're _not_ a nun, Gabby. You'll do great tomorrow. I know you."

"Thanks, Aly. You'll do great on the floor. I have faith in you."

"I know." Aly began to drift off to sleep, her words slurring into each other as she nestled her head into Gabby's shoulder, her arm slung over Gabby's chest. "We'll do great, you and me. We'll take gold and silver on the beam. Just the two of us."

"Aly?"

"Mmph?"

"You never answered my Hanukkah question."

Aly grunted and buried her face into the side of Gabby's neck. "You'll find it all out when you celebrate it with me next time."

( _There's definitely a person. And she's someone's person too. Which is all they can really ask for here on the largest stage of them all: to have each other, no matter what_.)


End file.
